Ayrshire Scotland Business News is provided by the Elite Ayrshire Business Circle, an association of some of the top companies in Ayrshire. We publicise our members, and celebrate and report the wealth and rich diversity of entrepreneurial and business excellence that abounds here in Ayrshire, south-west Scotland. For further information e-mail Murdoch@eliteayrshire.com

The Elite Ayrshire Business Circle

Tuesday, 11 November 2008

Ayrshire fine foods supplier appoints director of new cook school

Kilmarnock-based quality meat, game and deli goods specialist Braehead Foods has appointed Steven Doherty (pictured below) as the managing director of the company’s new cook school, which will open in February 2009.

The cook school with its state of the art kitchen is just one of the facilities available at Braehead’s new 30,000 sq ft company headquarters. As well as increasing the range and capacity of products available, the new building also houses a demonstration kitchen, restaurant and shop, thus promoting the Braehead name further to both trade and consumer markets.

Steven commented: “It is the wish of Braehead Foods managing director Craig Stevenson (pictured above) and myself to establish Braehead’s cook school as one of the leading cook schools in Scotland and the UK as a whole within the next three years, and we look forward to achieving this target”

Steven’s job as managing director of the cook school is a consultative role which involves his overseeing the whole operation to ensure it runs efficiently.

Steven has identified several key aspects he wants to concentrate on primarily, one of which is to attract leading names in Scottish hospitality to cook at the school. He has already gained agreement from 22 guest chefs from across Scotland, including Ian Brown of The Ubiquitous Chip and Tony Singh at Oloroso to name but two.

He is also keen to ensure that people are aware that it is a cook school for the general public to come and learn more about cookery in an informative and fun way, which will be achieved mainly through interactive sessions and ‘demo and dine’ events.

He will also establish the restaurant dining space as an outstanding venue for corporate hospitality and fine dining. Because of its unrivalled access by road, it is the perfect destination for corporate hospitality events and private dining. And with the cook school dimension they can combine company interaction with dining and learning key culinary skills.

Another fundamental aspect keeping true to their roots in trade is that the Braehead cook school is also a place that chefs in the culinary industry can come to take part in tutored cookery sessions with Steven, his team and other guest chefs from the industry. Like Craig, who co-established the Scottish Food Scholarship, Steven, who is also a judge of Gordon Ramsay’s scholarship, is keen to ensure that the facility is available to chefs to further their skills and experience. And his overall aim is to provide the best visitor experience for all guests when they visit the Braehead cook school.

Bookings are now being taken for the cook school which will hold day and evening sessions in over 15 different culinary master classes. Prices start from £35 and go up to £1500 for a corporate booking of 20 people for exclusive use.

Braehead Foods Ltd is based in Kilmarnock, Scotland and supplies high quality game and specialty produce to delicatessens, pubs and restaurants across the UK.

Braehead also sources game from over 100 estates across Scotland, including venison, pheasant, partridge, grouse and rabbit. It is the only supplier in Scotland of Gressingham Duck.

Braehead sells to all of Scotland’s Michelin-starred chefs, and one, two and three Michelin-starred restaurants in England. They also supply 4 and 5 star hotels, as well as 1, 2, 3 and 4 AA Rosette restaurants across Scotland.

Since 2003 they have been exporting wholesale game to USA, France, Germany, Italy and Belgium.

Founded in 1988 Braehead Foods has become synonymous with fine food and game. In April 2008, Braehead moved into their new purpose-built factory at Moorfield Park Industrial Estate, Kilmarnock. At 30,000 square feet it is more than six times larger than the previous factory and allows them to meet demand for more quality game and fine food distribution and processing. The new building is open plan, set over two floors and houses a state-of-the art processing area, cold storage and dispatch docks.

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THE EDITORThe Editor of Ayrshire Scotland Business News is Murdoch MacDonald, a graduate of Magdalene College, Cambridge University, where his journalistic contemporaries included John Simpson, now World Affairs Editor with the BBC, and Alan Rusbridger, Editor of the Guardian. Murdoch MacDonald has been in the public relations industry and a freelance journalist and broadcaster for more than 35 years.He has handled the PR accounts of many top Scottish companies, including Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Life, John Menzies, Kwik-Fit and Barratt Homes.

He has hosted his own family finance programmes - "£s, Pence and Sense" on Radio Forth and "Moneywise" on Scottish Television.He now runs Ayrshire’s top PR consultancy Fame Publicity Services.

Wherever you are in the world, no other public relations consultancy, PR firm or publicity company can offer you a better or more cost-effective worldwide news distribution service, combined with search engine optimisation techniques that will drive customers and qualified sales leads to your company's website.

Murdoch MacDonald is also managing director of the Elite Ayrshire Business Circle, an association of some of the top companies in Ayrshire.Telephone: 01292 281498E-mail: Murdoch@eliteayrshire.com

Murdoch and his wife Lilian (pictured above) have written a book called "Phoenix in a Bottle", describing how they overcame alcoholism and are now, contrary to conventional wisdom, able to drink alcohol responsibly again. "Phoenix in a Bottle" is published by Melrose Books price £16.99 and is now available worldwide.Reviewing the book, eminent American addiction expert Dr Stanton Peele PhD commented:

“Phoenix in a Bottle is a modern version of The Days of Wine and Roses, and tells the true story of how two people who entered a period of desperate drinking stayed with one another in a close loving relationship, and emerged from their alcoholism able to drink responsibly again.

“Both a wonderful love story and a challenge to conventional wisdom about how people can recover from drinking problems, Phoenix in a Bottle gives people hope, and helps them to confront their own demons - alcohol or otherwise.”

And now "Phoenix in a Bottle" has been selected as a set text by a top American university.

“Phoenix in a Bottle” by Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald will now be required reading for all doctoral students in a psychology programme at Alliant International University in San Diego, California.

Alliant International University, headquartered in San Diego and San Francisco, California, was formed in 2001 by the merger of the California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) and the United States International University. Alliant has 6 campuses throughout California and also runs programmes in Mexico City, Hong Kong and Tokyo. The California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant is one of the premier psychology schools in the US, and it counts roughly half the licensed clinical psychologists in California as its alumni.

Dr. Gary W. Lawson is Professor of Psychology at CSPP. He says: “I adopted Phoenix in a Bottle because the dilemma this couple struggled with and the questions they ask themselves are like so many others I have encountered in 35 years of clinical experience treating addictions.“However, nowhere in addiction literature have I seen these issues examined and explained as well as Lilian and Murdoch do in Phoenix in a Bottle.“I also recommend Phoenix in a Bottle to many of my patients as well.”

You can buy "Phoenix in a Bottle" by Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald online now direct from Amazon UK (click on book cover image below).